The Satay Club was the name of three open-air

hawker centre A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They were built to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different variet ...

s in Singapore, all of which are no longer operating as of 2005. The first Satay Club ( 1940–1970) was located at Hoi How Road, near Beach Road; the second and third were located at the Esplanade (1970–1995) and Clarke Quay (1995–2005) respectively. Food sold at the Satay Club was predominantly

satay Satay ( , in USA also , ), or sate in Indonesian spelling, is a Southeast Asian dish of seasoned, skewered and grilled meat, served with a sauce. The earliest preparations of satay is believed to have originated in Javanese cuisine, but ...

. According to one source, Satay Club sold the "best satay in the region f_Southeast_Asia.html" ;"title="Southeast_Asia.html" ;"title="f Southeast Asia">f Southeast Asia">Southeast_Asia.html" ;"title="f Southeast Asia">f Southeast Asia.

History

1940–1970: Hoi How Road

The first incarnation of the Satay Club was located alongside Hoi How Street, near Beach Road. It was flanked by two theatres, one of them being the Alhambra Cinema.

1970–1995: The Esplanade

During its time at the Esplanade, it was described as a "romantic spot for many courting couples", as well as an "iconic waterfront hawker haven". Located opposite was the Raffles Hotel, and nearby were the Singapore River and Queen Elizabeth Walk. Selling mostly

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

and

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

satay, the first stall there was Fatman Satay, reviewed as the top stall in general.

1995–2005: Clarke Quay

The Clarke Quay Satay Club operated from 1995 to towards the end of 2005. Situated alongside the River Valley Road in Clarke Quay, it opened its stalls from 7 p.m. onwards, selling mostly

and

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

satay.

2013–present: Satay by the Bay

Stylised after the Satay Club, Satay by the Bay was opened on January 15, 2013, at the

Gardens by the Bay The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden (in Marina South), Bay East Garden (in Marina East) and Ba ...

tourist attraction. It was described as "reminiscent of the old Satay Club".

In Singaporean culture

The Satay Club was so famous that one source goes on to claim that " ery taxi driver n Singaporeknows it". It was featured on complimentary tourist brochures issued by the

Singapore Tourism Board The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry. History The board was first established on 1 January 1964 and w ...

. It was common practice at the Satay Club in around 1986 to re-sell leftover sticks of satay. This was deemed to be "unhygienic" by Andrew Chua of the ''

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...

''. The name "Satay Club" is also informally applied to the streetside satay stalls south of

Lau Pa Sat Lau Pa Sat (), also known as Telok Ayer Market ( ms, Pasar Telok Ayer; ), is a historic building located within the Downtown Core in the Central Area of Singapore. It was first built in 1824 as a fish market on the waterfront serving the peop ...

market.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8VGAAAAMAAJ , title=The Singapore treasury: secrets of the garden city , last=Augustin , first=Andreas , year=1988 , isbn=9789810004927 , publisher=Andreas Augustin

External links

Singapore Infopedia page on Satay Club
Singaporean cuisine